


the man who fell (in love)

by autumnchills



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Banter, Earthquakes, Established Relationship, Head Injury, Humor, Idiots in Love, M/M, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26676745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnchills/pseuds/autumnchills
Summary: “You’re like a cat,” Eddie says then. “Nine lives and all.”“I think he’s used some of those lives,” the man securing Eddie grunts.“I bet you’d even land on all fours if we let go right now,” Eddie goes on as if tuning everyone else out.“Don’t you dare!” Buck screeches.Bobby realizes it's been a good day. Then one Evan Buckley falls from the roof during an earthquake.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 537
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	the man who fell (in love)

Bobby would like to consider a day like this a win. He’s pretty sure that just thinking that could jinx it, but he can’t just  _ not _ acknowledge how good it’s been. 

It’d started out a little rocky, with a call coming in at the start of the day and exhausting his team. Fortunately, they’d been back by lunch and Bobby had managed to whip up something to put some pep back in everyone’s step.

From there on, the couple of calls they responded to had been easy and nowhere near as draining as that first one. 

Even the grumpiest of the grumpy in the station was in a good mood.

_ It’s something in the air _ , Hen had said earlier in the day. And well, maybe it was. 

The temperatures were finally lowering, becoming less dry and intense, making for breezy afternoons and actual chilly evenings. This summer had been their worst yet with the heat and amount of fires in California. Being so far into the city, they didn’t usually respond to wildfires, but with as big and expansive as they’d been, they’d been put on a rotation and had dedicated more than a couple of shifts to relief for the stations that did respond to those areas. This past week had been as laid back as it could be, so it was hard  _ not _ to enjoy this kind of day.

On top of all that, today marks the last day of summer, and tomorrow would round into autumn. 

Bobby isn’t naive enough to think that the heat would immediately disappear with it, but it means another difficult part of the year had passed, and he is proud to say that through all the tribulations of the year, Bobby hasn’t lost a single one of his people.

Although, one Evan Buckley likes to test his sanity in that department.

It was nearing ten o’clock in the evening when the earthquake hit. 

At this point in the evening, everyone is in different states of relaxation. A few firefighters are taking turns on the station’s console with some kind of racing game, while a few others read or lounge, watching on. However, Buck and Eddie are nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Hen,” Bobby calls out. “Have you seen Buck? I need to ask him something.”

“Oh, the lovebirds snuck off to the roof again,” she replies without turning her head from the game on the TV.

From the kitchen, Chimney groans. “They’re getting sickening, Cap! You’d think the honeymoon stage of their relationship would have ended already.”

Bobby turns to him with a huff of laughter and catches the tail end of the man shoving a celery stick into his mouth. It’s true that the two had been impossibly more attached than they had been before getting together. And ever since the air had started clearing up of smoke, Buck would drag his other half up onto that damn roof whenever they had a free moment.

Chimney is just about to dive another piece of celery into the peanut butter when the rumbling starts.

Bobby hadn’t lived in California long before experiencing his first earthquake. It wasn’t a large one– a measly three-point-something, not even above average for Southern California. His friends and co-workers, some born and raised in California and others who’d just lived there long enough, had brushed it off and moved along. Some even made jokes about it and referenced something he’d only heard of from movies and science articles– The Big One. 

It was something that he never paid much mind to because it wasn’t his problem, but now it was.

He could still remember his first one clearly. First came a shift in the air, like the oxygen itself was suddenly misplaced. Then, the distant roar of it, like a rolling thunder rippling across the sky, the earth groaning as it stretched itself and cracked its bones.

It wasn’t much different than it is now. 

It takes seconds for everyone to be up and moving, but the earthquake is over before anyone can make it out the doors or even down the stairs from the loft.

Evidently, it wasn’t the  _ Big One _ , but it was a good shaker nonetheless. 

“Call out!”Bobby immediately shouts. “Everyone okay?”

Various responses come back, all positive from different areas of the station. 

“I was sure that was going to be the big one,” someone mutters behind Bobby. “Any day now, I swear.”

“USGS says 4.6,” another says.

Some more comments are made, but beyond that, the captain can swear he hears something else.

“Everyone quiet!” he says loudly, silencing the loft at once.

“Cap, what’s—”

Bobby cuts off Chim with a shush, not caring if it comes off as rude.

And then clear and muffled by all the space and walls between them, a distant shout, but distinct enough to know it’s Eddie.

And he’s yelling for help.

Hen’s eyes widen considerably, and she shoots off running.    
  
“The roof!” she screams as she darts down the stairs. The staircase leading up there is on the first floor behind the locker rooms.

Bobby, Chim, and a few other firefighters are hot on her tail, and moments later they’re all on the roof, scanning for their friends.

“This is on you, you know!” Eddie yells. They spy him toward the front of the building by the flagpole. Half of his body is over the thick wall lining the roof, and considering that Bobby can’t see Buck, he’s not liking whatever is going on.

“Oh, cause I knew an  _ earthquake _ was going to hit while I was walking up here!” Buck yells back from out of sight. 

Hen reaches them at that point, and Eddie feels her presence, offering her a glance before looking back down at Buck— Buck who is hanging upside down over the edge of the roof. The only reason he hasn’t fallen is because Eddie has a tight grip on the man’s ankle.

“Calvary’s here,” he mutters. “I swear to God, Buck. Who even walks around on this ledge? I told you to get down like five times!”

“Anyone who’s had to take care of the flags has been up here! It’s a wide ledge, Eddie!”

“Boys!” Hen shouts, trying to interrupt the bickering.

“Oh, Hen!” Buck tilts his head to look up at her. The man’s face is already red as a tomato, but he sounds more than pleased to hear her. “Please help this imbecile pull me back up!”

“I told you I didn’t have the leverage! My feet aren’t even on the ground Buck!”

Bobby glances down as Chim and one of the other firefighters try to lean over and grab a hold of Buck’s other ankle, and sure enough, nothing is securing Eddie to that ledge. Pulling Buck up could have very well slid them both right over.

Chim laughs out, despite the situation. “Only you could manage to nearly die every other Monday, Buck.” He turns his head to talk to one of the guys next. “Alright, we’re going to pull him up. Make sure you boys got me and Eddie. I refuse to go out like  _ this _ .”

Eddie mutters something under his breath, and though Bobby doesn’t catch it, Buck does.

“I heard that, you ass! I’d kick you if you weren’t keeping me from dying!”

“You’re like a cat,” Eddie says then. “Nine lives and all.”

“I think he’s used some of those lives,” the man securing Eddie grunts.  “I bet you’d even land on all fours if we let go right now,” Eddie goes on as if tuning everyone else out.

“Don’t you dare!” Buck screeches.

Considering that everyone is now pulling on each other to bring Buck back over the edge, Bobby knows there’s no real fear there.

“Like I would!” Eddie pauses as they pull him up enough to get his own feet back on the rooftop. “You  _ almost _ dying is enough to give me a damn heart attack.” This time Eddie’s voice is softer, frustration seemingly out of his system. “Now let’s finish pulling him up here so that I can kill him myself.”

Or not.

“Are they always like this?” Johnny, the man anchoring Chim, asks. He’s usually on second shift, so he isn’t quite as used to the Buck and Eddie show. 

Hen, who had stepped out of the way to let all the guys do their little monkey in a barrel act, speaks up then. 

“Only when they’re worried about each other.”

“Alright, give us your hands,” Chim instructs as they pull Buck high enough to do so. 

Within the next few seconds, Buck is once again upright, seated on the inner side of the ledge. Both him and Eddie breathe heavily.

“You okay?” Bobby asks, though Hen is sliding in to check him herself.

“Head’s pounding,” Buck replies, leaning down to rest his head against Eddie’s.

“Idiot,” Eddie whispers, but he pulls away to press a kiss to Buck’s forehead. 

“Well, hanging upside down for a couple of minutes can do that to a person,” Chim remarks.

Buck shakes his head and brings a hand up to the base of his neck. When he pulls it away, his fingertips are glistening. “I hit my head,” Buck says.

“Let me see that,” Hen says, already directing Buck to turn and shining the small light from her shirt pocket at the base of his skull.

“How did you manage that? On what?” Chim asks.

“He was standing when he fell,” Eddie supplies. “When the shaking started, he tried to lower himself off of the ledge, but he slipped, so he went upper body first. When I caught his ankle, the rest of him swung right into the wall.”

Everyone flinches visibly at that.

“You know what, I really can’t see anything up here,” Hen sighs. “We should get him down to the locker room and I’ll be able to check him out better.”

“Knew you thought I was hot,” Buck quips.

Hen raises an eyebrow. “If you weren’t bleeding, I’d smack you upside the head.”

Buck laughs lightly, his shoulders barely moving, but the smile is clear on his face.

“Okay, Buck, can you walk?”

Buck’s smile fades. “I’m kinda dizzy,” he admits sheepishly. 

Bobby moves to Buck’s side then as Eddie takes the other. “We’ll move slowly, but we do have to pick up the pace. No doubt that someone in LA slipped in the shower just now and we could get a call any minute.”

“Aye, aye, Cap,” Buck responds. Though the usual energy is gone, Buck is still right as rain.

The smile returns to Buck’s face as they move toward the roof entrance. “Hey, Eds,” he says softly.

“What’s up, Buck?”

“Still gonna kill me?”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “Might k-word you just to get you to shut up.”

“Kiss?” Buck asks bashfully. 

“No, Buck. I’m going to kick you for scaring me.”

Buck pouts at Eddie and the latter sighs. “Okay,” he gives in. “I’ll kiss you, I guess.”

“I’ll kiss you, I guess,” Buck mimics. “Can you guys believe I fell for such a romantic?”

“Ha!” Johnny snorts. “You sure fell, alright.”

Everyone dissolves into laughter then. 

With smiles on everyone’s faces, Bobby wonders if he can still count this as a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> Err. Um... In my defense, I came up with the idea at 5 am and then wrote it the next day on a whim. *shrugs*
> 
> Please leave comments and kudos, as they always encourage me to write more! If you feel I missed some necessary story tags please let me know what it is I should add. If a tag feels inaccurate, please feel free to let me know about that as well.
> 
> Thank you to my beta reader: [Aria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyShipSailsHere/pseuds/MyShipSailsHere)


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